CHICAGO: Port congestion is growing in Asia with an increase in the average numbers of containerships per day waiting to berth at key ports according to analysts project44.

The average number of ships waiting per day at Asian ports increased from 13 in December 2021 to 22.5 per day in January.

The biggest rises were seen in the South China – Hong Kong region. According to project44 the average number of ships waiting per increasing from 17.5 per day in December 2021 to 22.5 in January this year. It was a very similar picture in Yantian with the average number of ships waiting per day up from 17.5 in December to 22.4 in January this year.

The increase at Yantian coincided with yard congestion which saw the South China cutting the gate window for export containers. Dwell time for export containers at Yantian averaged seven days in January according to project44 data, while it was around 10 days for import boxes.

The world’s largest transhipment port of Singapore also saw a rise in the average number of ships waiting per day. January this year saw an average of 17.2 ships per day waiting to berth at the port, compared to 14.8 per day in December 2021.

The picture at the world’s largest container port – Shanghai – was considerably better if the average number of vessels waiting is on the rise. It stood at 4.6 containerships on average waiting per day, compared to 2.3 in December.